The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-01-17

mind and heart working together. OF course,
there are special hardships. II read Ruskin
regulating climate, their washing the fertile
earth down into the valleys, it is not for me to
say: Yes, but man fell on the steep mount
ain side and broke his neck. All great benefits
involve special risks, but the general drift OF
things is beneficial Jonah complains of the
gale. But the wind meant good to the land
Perhaps there were many sick people in Nineveh
waiting for the breeze.
The snow is cheerful. Il adds nightly to
the sum total of the happiness of the children of
men. Take the sled and skates out of child's
life and there is big hole not possible to fill
Sweet are the use of adversely. Montreal, and
now St Paul, takes the long, hard winter and
makes festival Of the season. The toboggan
make life worth living. John Weir, who lives
in the Yosemite valley, writes of the water
ousel that has no need of spring sunshine to
thaw his song, but sings loveliest in winter. This
singular bird sings right on in storm and frost.
He seems to see the virtue of winter feels
something good in hardship. Like Paul and Silas,
who in prison saw something TO make dugeon
cheerful
Winter is quickener Of charity. Cold added
to hunger touches men, l have noticed that the
Little Sisters of the Poor, in this city never
take bright and pleasant day as proper sea-
son for soliciting aid for the poor. The rougher
the day the better for that business. When the
mercury drops the heart of the rich is more &C
cessible to the call of the cold and the hungry.
That ice and snow good for men seems to
be proved by the contrast between the people of
North and South Acknowledgement the land of
the banana and the land of the crab-apple Life
acquainted with frost has more fiber, more
nerve in it. Northern fruit, if it is sour. is sour:
the acid is unmistakable, and if it is sweet it is
sweet The products of the north not in
different. They have tang TO them. Palms
do very well, but what is so fine pine2 The
wild strawberries of northern Canada are a
miracle of sweetness
Snow is against laziness. The Puritan
must pillow early and plant early, and not waste
in harvesting He must be up early and
out to fodder, and the chores are many. In my
own memory, there is nothing colder than a
fork stale in a winter morning before breakfast.
Winter seems to be good for the mind. Who
ever read a South American book? Books are
made where wheat grows. The long evening OF
the snow land has been godsend. The citizen
of a gulf State sits out on the veranda and Ian
gudly watches the day melt into the night He
talks wsll-and long-but reads little. 1t is too
pleasant to read.
To read we'll one must be driven in by the
weather Once in elan to the door; nobody is
going to call on such night. The weather for
bids interruption, and from o'clock to midnight
one can read many pages l remember the long
evenings of one house. father, and mother, and
each child with a book Tine backlog and the
forestck of the old-fashioned fireplace shed a
cheerful light cheerful group, all storing
in thoughts sunshine is stored in coal, for the
comfort Of years to come